Fred "Rusty" Gage, a professor in the
Salk Institute Laboratory of Genetics and holder
of the Vi and John Adler Chair for Research on
Age-Related Neurodegenerative Diseases,
was honored with the Fyssen Foundation's
2011 International Prize on the theme "The
Epigenetics of Cognition."

"The award is for our discovery of adult
neurogenesis in the hippocampus derived
from stem cells in humans and that mobile
elements in neural stems cells add to somatic
diversity, which creates a repertoire of cells
on which selection can act for epigenetic adaptation,"
said Gage. "This blurs the boundary
between epigenetic and genetic mechanisms,
both of which can contribute to unique
differences in cognition."

Established in 1979, the Paris-based
Fyssen Foundation seeks to encourage all
forms of scientific inquiry into such cognitive
mechanisms as thought and reasoning,
which underlie animal and human behavior,
their biological and cultural bases, and
phylogenetic and ontogenetic development.
The organization has given out the international
prize annually since 1980 in recognition of
an outstanding scientist who has conducted
distinguished research in ethology, human
paleontology, anthropology, psychology,
epistemology, logic or the neurosciences.

Gage's selection as the recipient of the
organization's International Prize is further
acknowledgement of his reputation as one of the
world's foremost experts in neurobiology. He is
the first Salk scientist to receive the prestigious
award, which was presented at a ceremony
March 23 in Paris.